Stress - caused by resisting the urge to beat the living daylights out of one who richly deserves it

Fic: Teasing Tony

Author: bluefirebirdTitle: Teasing Tony (honest, it is Gibbs/Abby)Rating: PG-13 (I think)Category: Romance, Humor, IntriguePairing: Gibbs/Abby – and Tony gatecrashed!Words: ~2100Spoilers: None.Summary: Abby has a new man, does Gibbs have a new woman?Prompt: "I don't remember when I first felt like this, but all I know is ....."/ Holding hands (as in the action) - For quietsleeperDate: December 2011(And why is it that what ends up on paper is nothing like how you visualised it along the way?)

It was a few days before Christmas and Abby Scuito opened her eyes to a bedroom that wasn’t her own, feeling warm and safe and snuggled. As it became obvious that she had woken, the arms around her tightened slightly and warm breath tickled her ear as the back of her neck was nuzzled.

She leaned down and pressed a kiss to the smooth skin of his bicep, the only bit of his arm that she could reach without twisting round.

“I need to pee.”

The grip surrounding her slackened and the man behind her grumbled, but let her climb out of bed.

The room was chilled and, wearing nothing but her birthday suit, Abby hastened to the bathroom to take care of business. As she walked quickly back to the warm bed she was amused at the intense look in the eyes of the man still in the bed, avidly following her naked form across the room in the early morning light.

He lifted the bedding up and encouraged her back under the covers, running his warm hand up and down her now cold back as he pulled her flush against him and sought her lips.

“Again? Already?” Abby laughed.

“Mmm.” Was all she got by way of a verbal reply, but the movement of his body against hers was enough of an answer.

“We need to get up and go to work.”

“Mmm.” He agreed.

“My boss’ll kill me if I’m late.”

“Mmm.” More agreement.

His attack became more determined, tongue gently seeking entrance into her mouth and deft fingers touching her in all the right places. Abby melted against him - after all what better way to start the day than being made love to by the man of your dreams?

~oOo~

Abby was still glowing happily from her start to the day. As yet there were no open cases for the day and no forensics to work on – which probably meant that there’d be plenty to do later in the week when she wanted time off for Christmas – in the meantime Abby was busy designing new decorations for her Christmas tree.

Tony walked into the lab with a box of evidence from a cold case, a Caff-Pow! balanced on top of the box. “Hi, Abs, how are you this morning?”

Abby pouted briefly before launching at Tony with a hug, once he’d put his load down on her bench. Pleased as she was to see Tony, it was Gibbs who she really wanted a visit from.

“Tony! I’m doing great. How are you? Where’s the Bossman? Are you still running cold cases?”

Tony squeaked and Abby backed off a little on the hug, letting him breathe again.

“Gibbs is fine, he’s at his desk, puzzling over something, and asked me to deliver your Caff-Pow! when I brought this evidence box down for you to go over again. He was a little late in this morning and I think he must have a new girlfriend.”

Abby pulled back to look Tony in the eye and frowned at him.

“What makes you think that, Tony?”

Tony screwed up his face thinking, “Well he’s only on his first cup of coffee this morning and he’s as ungrumpy as he gets after his third or fourth cup normally...”

“Ungrumpy? I don’t think that’s in the dictionary.”

“...and that’s just for starters.”

“Maybe he’s just got some Christmas spirit?”

Tony pulled a face, “The nearest Gibbs has ever got to Christmas spirit is out of a bottle marked ‘bourbon’. The guy’s never shown any Christmas spirit in all the years we’ve known him. On the other hand he’s usually a bit mellow when he’s getting some.”

Tony made an indignant noise and valiantly tried to exude a masterful air, “A guy knows these things.”

“Tony, the only way you’d know if Gibbs was getting some was if you were giving it to him.”

Tony’s expression changed to thoughtful. “Now there’s an idea. All that intensity and single-mindedness...” He shivered.

Abby punched him on the arm, “TONY. Get your mind out the gutter and leave me to get on with my work.”

~oOo~

Several hours later, after Team Gibbs had been out to a crime scene collecting evidence and Abby had begun pulling fingerprints off some of the items sent to her, Gibbs appeared with another Caff-Pow!

“Got anything for me yet, Abs?”

“Several prints from the bottles, plus the knife and gun that were brought in. Your vic’s prints are on the bottle, but also a number of unknowns which are running through the databases, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were unrelated – do you know how many people touch the average glass bottle before it gets to the ultimate customer?

“Abs!”

“The blood on the knife doesn’t belong to your vic, because it’s from a woman – again no match as yet. I’ll let you know when there’s more. Oh, and Tony thinks you’re getting some because you’re less grumpy at the moment.”

“Abs!”

Abby just threw an angelic smile in his direction.

Gibbs took a couple of steps over to Abby and kissed her gently on her cheek, right on the edge of her mouth. In a low and conspiratorial tone he said in her ear. “Tony needs a sex-life of his own, then he wouldn’t bother speculating about his co-workers.”

Then he was gone with “Good work, Abs,” floating back through the open door of her lab.

~oOo~

By late afternoon a shell-shocked Tony was back in Abby’s lab.

“Hey, Abs, I need to sit down and recover.”

“Why? What have you done, Tony? You haven’t hurt yourself again?”

“No, it’s Gibbs”

Abby looked alarmed. “What about Gibbs?”

“I think he’s going senile or something, he’s just invited us all over to his place on Christmas Day.”

“Abby, this is me you’re talking too. I may not be right about Gibbs having a girlfriend, but I know when you are happy because there’s someone special in your life.”

“There’s plenty of special men in my life Tony. There’s you, and Gibbs, and Timmy – and Ducky and Palmer. Vance doesn’t count, but there are other special guys around the office.”

“You know what I mean, Abby.”

“We’ll see, maybe.”

“But you’ve got to be there Abby, McGee can’t come and Christmas dinner with Gibbs and his lady-friend and me and Ziva...” A look of horror crossed his face. “I bet the autopsy gremlin can’t make it, that only leaves Ducky to save me if you’re not there.” He paused for a moment. “So, are you gonna tell me about him?”

Deciding that Tony was going to be like a dog after a bone if she didn’t say anything Abby began:

“Well, I don't remember when I first felt like this, but all I know is he’s amazing. He’s nothing like any of the guys I’ve been with before, and he’s not what you’d expect at all.”

Tony looked a little crestfallen. “So much for the lovey-dovey stuff. Height? Weight? What’s he look like? What’s he do for a living?”

“You’ll just have to wait till you meet him, Tony.”

~oOo~

At midday Christmas morning Gibbs, Abby and Ducky were outside Gibbs’ front door when Tony, followed almost immediately by Ziva, pulled up and parked outside. Ziva had a foil-covered plate with her and Tony had brought a bottle. Gibbs put the two items inside and could be heard telling someone indoors that they’d be back in an hour as Abby explained that they were going for a walk before dinner to work up an appetite.

“Where’s your man then, Abby?” Tony asked.

“He’ll be along later, he wanted to spend time with his family first.”

The day was a bright, sunny one with a generous covering of snow on the ground. Altogether a gorgeous Christmas morning for a walk in the woods and everyone was well wrapped up against the cold. Ducky led the way down the street towards the woods behind the houses, followed by Tony and Ziva who seemed to be bickering as usual and Gibbs and Abby brought up the rear, Gibbs reaching out for Abby’s hand, taking her glove off and stowing it in his pocket so that he could link his fingers with hers as they walked.

In the woods they came to a clearing with a shallow slope and Gibbs disappeared behind a tree, appearing a moment later with a wooden sled.

“Okay, who’s going first?” Gibbs asked.

Tony and Ziva both hedged in reply and Ducky declared “I think I’m a little old for that sort of thing, but I shall enjoy watching you all partake.”

Gibbs sighed at the younger two, “Haven’t you two ever been sledding before?”

He indicated for Abby to sit on the front of the sled and gave it a push down the hill before jumping on behind her and wrapping his arms around her.

Tony’s brain was beginning to hurt. He’d been invited to Christmas dinner by Gibbs and his new girlfriend, who they’d obviously left at home cooking the dinner, Abby was waiting for her boyfriend to arrive and in the meantime the two of them were sledding together in a very un-Gibbs-like way.

Gibbs towed the sled back up the hill with a laughing Abby still sitting on it. Again he offered the sled to Ziva or Tony for a go. Ziva accepted it and got on the front, obviously waiting for Tony to push her and jump on as Gibbs had done for Abby. Tony gave the sled a push but didn’t jump on. Ziva did fine down the slope in a straight line until she realised that Tony hadn’t jumped on behind her, as she looked back to see what had happened to him the sled turned sideways and she ended up in a heap in the snow, making them all laugh.

Gibbs jogged down the slope, picked her up from the pile of snow and dusted some of it off her. When he was happy that nothing more than her pride was dented he made her sit back on the sled and pulled it back to the top of the slope again. Then he handed the empty sled to Tony with a knowing smirk. Tony flashed his brightest, most sarcastic grin back at Gibbs in response. Then they all watched Tony push the sled and jump on, successfully negotiating the descent without ending up in a heap like Ziva. They each had a couple more turns: Gibbs and Abby; Abby on her own – making sure to upend and end up in the snow as Ziva had done; Ziva – this time pushed by Gibbs and not making the mistake of turning round, so she didn’t fall off again; Tony and finally Gibbs on his own.

Gibbs stowed the sled back where he had got it from and they all walked back to the house, warm and hungry from the exercise.

As they got in the front door and started removing their coats, gloves and shoes Tony asked, “So when’s your new man arriving, Abs?”

Gibbs leaned forward and growled in Tony’s ear “He’s here!”

For a moment Tony looked puzzled, until Jackson Gibbs walked out of the kitchen, wearing an apron, and said:

“Are you young folks ready for dinner, ‘cause it’s nearly ready for you.”

Tony looked at Abby and mouthed “Jack?” in confusion.

Abby laughed, “Wrong Gibbs” and Tony finally put two and two together correctly just as the headslap landed.

“Some investigator you are, DiNozzo.”

Ducky watched the entire proceedings with an indulgent, amused smile on his face already knowing about Gibbs and Abby, and Ziva quietly watched as the truth was revealed. She hadn’t known, but then she hadn’t been speculating like Tony had, either.

Christmas dinner was a convivial affair lasting several hours and then they all sat down to watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” on Gibbs’ old TV – with the new DVD player that Abby had hooked up to it.

~oOo~

Late that night as Abby lay snuggled in Gibbs’ bed, in Gibbs’ arms, he asked:

“Have fun with DiNozzo this week?”

“Well we both know he’s a really good investigator, with really good instincts – until he allows himself to be sidetracked by a little thing like your sex life.”

“My sex life is none of his damn business!”

“So I guess you’d rather I didn’t talk to him about my sex life either?”

Thanks, I'd almost forgotten about this one, although I knew it was a completed fic that had only been published on the Gabby Forum and was queued to be published everywhere else I have a fic presence.

Re-reading my stories I was thinking that they were much the same story over. Certainly Succor & Never Assume are very similar. This one was a departure from that theme.

I've struggled with two stories this year - I have an 'epic' that I've been wrangling in my head for a long time and signed up to the NCIS Big Bang this year intending to finish it, but I put in a big spurt to meet the initial cut-off date with a story that was largely complete - and over the 10,000 words mark - only to find that it needed to also be 90% complete in length as well and there was a fair bit that I wanted to expand on within the story so it wasn't 90% complete in words, thus they didn't put me up for an artist claim and I just gave up on the story for the time being. I didn't want to rush it for another deadline and compromise it - plus I've not really had the time to write since then.

I did the Gabby SeSa again this year, and I found that a hard one because I just didn't have inspiration - or time. I need to read more NCIS fic and watch my DVDs some more to get in the groove really and real life hasn't allowed for that so much recently.

Looking at my 'in progress' folder, I have a bunch of ideas that I'd like to finish writing, though - and hopefully before NCIS finishes and everyone drifts away from the fandom! :)

poor little Clueless Tony! and he will never get the details either,,, unless Abby cracks under threat of Cafpow with holding from Tony. But of course Gibbs would just double his input,,, ,,, ,,, Really liked this.

Thanks, I remember having fun writing this one and I still love that I can hear the voices of the characters in my head when I read it - in fact one of the episodes I was watching yesterday had Gibbs exclaiming "Abby!" in exactly the way I envisioned in the story.